C) Listen to the recording and say whether the following sentences are true or false.

a) The tables in a person’s favorite café are always reserved. T/F

b) The café is very busy during rush hour or at lunchtime. T/F

c) The man always orders Latte and a coffee cake. T/F

d) It’s possible to order various sandwiches as well. T/F

e) The man works as an actor. T/F

9. Discuss the following questions:

· What is the best thing in the job of a restaurant critic? What is the worst one?

· Would you like to be a restaurant critic? Why? Why not?

· Is it necessary for a restaurant critic to have specific skills and knowledge? What are they?

10. Read the article about the job of a restaurant critic.

TASTY JOB

J: What questions do people usually ask you about your job?

As the Globe 's restaurant critic, I get all sorts of questions each week: Where should I take my in-laws? Is there a romantic restaurant in the North End, or the South End? What happened to that place that sold twin lobsters in the 1950s under the Tobin Bridge? But the one I hear mostoften is: How can you be a restaurant critic and be so thin?

A friend once asked what the worst thing about my job was, and I answered, "Eating out". The best thing: Eating out. It's a paradox.

J: And how do you eat out two or three or four or five times a week and not get fat?

The answer is that I exercise – walking, weights, Pilates – every day without fail, and I am very careful about what I eat – no potato chips, no ice cream. My routine is a little excessive, maybe, but the alternative might leave me looking like a turkey the day before Thanksgiving.

J: How do you actually review restaurants?

Well, The Globe reviewers go anonymously. I make reservations under another name; I usually visit each restaurant twice, taking along three companions each time. By the end, I'll have tasted 10 to 16 dishes, plus desserts, and have a fairly good idea of what the chef and the restaurant are getting at. If I'm going to an ethnic restaurant – say, Chinese – I try to take along a native or someone very familiar with the cuisine, although by now I've tried enough Peking duck and dan-dan noodles to have a decent working knowledge.

While I'm eating, I'm making mental notes, about the food and about the restaurant itself. How does the room look? Is the lighting too dim, too bright? Is the management keeping track of slow service from the kitchen? Are the waiters moving fast or slowly? I don't take notes at the table - I need to be a regular diner and not call attention to myself. For a while, I used a tape recorder on the drive home, but the sound of my voice when I replayed the tape was too embarrassing. As soon as I get home, no matter how late it is or how tired I am, I retrieve my mental images and write pages and pages of notes.

J: Who pays for the meals, and do you wear disguises?

The newspaper pays for the meals; no food is accepted for free. I don't wear disguises, mostly because I would feel so foolish that I wouldn't be able to carry on a normal conversation. Sometimes I am recognized. It's inevitable. It's usually not by the chef but by managers and waiters, but by that time, it's too late for management to call in another chef or change the wait staff.

Also, I try to keep a low profile: I don't go to wine dinners, or other gatherings; appear on television or participate as a celebrity in events; or accept offers to try a chef's cuisine. That can limit one's social life, but it's the price I pay for getting paid to eat out.

Anyone ever get angry about a bad review?

Of course, restaurateurs, chefs, and faithful customers don't always like what I write.

Once a South End restaurant owner called my editors and threatened to get a gun – he didn't, as far as I know. And after a critical review or even a mixed one, I often am bombarded with e-mails from a restaurant's fans or enemies wondering how I could be so dumb. It's part of the job, and I'm glad people are passionate about the places they love – or hate.

Did your resume just say "I like to eat", and you got the job?

Under the rule that you always seek what you didn't have, a life in restaurants was my destiny. I grew up in a tiny village in western Kansas where we never, ever ate out – there were no restaurants.

Later as a journalist I learned to cook "fancy" food and wrote about food. When the Globe 's former restaurant critic, Robert Levey, decided to retire, I was asked to take this position. I agreed.

11. Are the following sentences true or false?

a) The most common question people ask a restaurant critic is where to eat out cheaply and tasty. T/F

b) To loose weight it is enough for the critic to be careful about what he eats. T/F

c) He always books a table in a restaurant under another name. T/F

d) The critic’s job is to gain an impression of cuisine. T/F

e) He usually wears a wig so that people can’t recognize him. T/F

12. Would you like to be a restaurant critic? Does this job require any specific skills and qualifications? What are the benefits and the drawbacks of this job? Complete the table below using the information from the article and adding your own ideas.

advantages	disadvantages

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